Questions on Establishing My Identity

Well, I seem to have reached a crossroads in my photography life. Ever since I moved out to the country, I have been trying to figure out what to do with my photography career. Do I continue to pursue portrait taking, or should I go back to capturing the environment? For the last few weeks, I have been asking myself what I want to do, with no success in finding an answer. So, I decided to take a break, and start writing these BLOG posts, giving me time to reflect on my journey so far, and see what I should do moving forward.

Opportunities

While I was writing these stories out, which more Photoshoot stories will be coming soon, I had a few opportunities to shoot come my way. One was given to me by my wife. As some of you know, my wife is a gluten-free baker, and she was working on a wedding cake for a client, and needed to deliver the cake out to Groesbeck, a small city about 45 minutes away from our home. She had suggested we go over to Fort Parker State Park and let our son have some fun out there. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should take my camera, so we could get photos of him playing, as well as some family photos, and then the thought crossed my mind to take nature photos of the park, since it was an area I had never visited before.

After we delivered the cake, we made our way over to the park, and we had a blast, even if we were there for only a couple of hours. Fort Parker State Park is an absolutely beautiful park located alongside Fort Parker Lake. The park was small, but was full of hiking trails and camping locations. The trees were enormous, and the grass was so green that day. It was very charming, and I felt like I had been transported back in time to the classic imagery of summer vacation at the lake.

Photo Walk through Georgetown

I also had another photo opportunity come my way just recently. I was out in Georgetown for a conference, and I did not have to be anywhere Saturday morning, so I took advantage of it and walked through downtown Georgetown while doing some street photography. I hadn't done a photo walk in several years, and it was refreshing going back out and spending an hour just capturing moments in the city.

What I found out was how beautiful Georgetown is, a city established in 1848, and is located 25 miles North of Austin, and has beautiful neighborhoods of craftsman and plantation-style homes. I had an absolute blast spending that hour walking through town, just me and my camera. I wandered from the house I was staying at to the center of downtown, and captured what I believe is the essence of the city, a growing modern city, with respect to its history. The county courthouse was located at the center of downtown, and typical to Texas, the courthouse has a town square surrounding the courthouse, with shops and restaurants all around. It's really cool to see this layout throughout the state, because it gives each location its own unique identity.

A Realization

After spending a good amount of time reflecting on how I wanted to continue pursuing photography, I think I came to a decision. I decided on dialing back my artistic portrait photography projects, and go back to my wheelhouse: Travel Photography. I have visited places all over the world, and invested many many hours exploring cities and countries. From New York to Los Angeles, from Roatan to Bangkok, I had seen popular locations, and little hidden gems. I love being able to show my view of the world, and that will be my plan from here on. I'm not saying that I won't keep doing portraits or weddings, I intend to keep doing them, I just plan on taking photos of things that I can realistically achieve while having kids under five. I have more trips planned this year, and I will make sure to take my camera with me, so I can show you the world through my eyes.